Doll with simplified tear unit



Nov. 15, 1960 R. K. OSTRANDER 2,959,890

DOLL WITH SIMPLIFIED TEAR UNIT,

Filed Oct. 51. 1957 INVENTOR ROBERT K. OSTRANDER tinited tates Patent QDOLL WITH SIMPLIFIED TEAR UNIT Robert K. Ostrander, 497 Prospect St.,Maplewood, NJ.

Filed Oct. 31, 1957, Ser. No. 693,569

Claims. (Cl. 46-135) This invention relates to tear dolls and moreespecially to such dolls having heads molded of soft plastic materialwith eye openings in the face and integral sockets behind the eyeopenings for holding eye units, and to dolls having stationary buttontype eyes.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simpler and less expensivetear doll. The invention provides a construction which eliminates thenecessity for valves. The preferred construction also eliminates thenecessity for tubing and for bellows. The invention thus reduces thecost of the tear unit, and the construction permits more rapid and lessexpensive assembly operations in the manufacture of the doll.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tear doll having areservoir riveteddirectly to the eye sockets of the doll, thuseliminating all supports for the tear reservoir except the supportsprovided by water passages.

The clearance through which tears are discharged from the eyes arepreferably made small enough to prevent the flow of water from thereservoir by gravity alone; but vent openings above the water levelpermit air pressure to reach the water when the ,body of the doll issqueezed.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention Will appear orbe pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts in all the views;

Figure l is a vertical sectional view through the head and upper portionof the body of a doll made in accordance with this invention, thesection being taken through the center plane of the doll except at theeye and upper part of the reservoir where portions of the section aretaken on the line 1-1 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a front view of the tear reservoir shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is an isometric view, partly broken away, showing theconstruction of the tear reservoir illustrated in the other views;

Figure 1 shows a doll having a head 10 and a body 11. The upper end ofthe body 11 has a circumferential groove 14 located below a flange 16.The body fits through a hole in the bottom of the head .10, and the headis held on the body by engagement of a peripheral edge portion 18 of thehead into the groove 14. of the body. This provides a substantiallyair-tight connection between the body and the head so that depression ofthe body displaces air into the head, as indicated by the small arrows.

The head 10 and body 11 are both preferably made of soft and imperforateplastic material. The head 1'9 is molded with an open mouth 20 and witheye openings 22 leading into eye sockets 24 which are integral with thehead of the doll and preferably of one-piece construction with the head.V

Within the head there is a tear reservoir 26- which consists of a box,preferably rigid, having a water dhamber 28 therein closed by a frontwall 30. This front wall 39 has openings 34 and 35 near the bottom ofthe chamber 28, the openings 34 and 35 being located in position toregister with other openings 37 in the back of the eye sockets '24.There are vent openings 41 through the front wall 30 near the top of thewater chamber 23.

Each of the eye sockets 24 has a depression 46, preferably at the backof the socket. An eye unit 48 is snapped into each of the sockets 24 andthis eye unit is gripped by the resilient material of which the eyesocket 24 is made. With the eye unit in place, the lower edge of the eyeopening 22 simulates the bottom lid of the eye.

The depression 46 provides a substantial clearance between the surfaceof the eye socket and the back of the eye unit 48. Clearance is providedfor the flow of water from the depression 46 to the eye opening 22. Inthe construction illustrated, this clearance is obtained by having achannel 59 molded in the surface of the bottom of the eye socket 22. Theclearance may also be provided by having a corresponding channel in thebottom surface of the eye unit 48, or in various other ways.

In the preferred construction, this clearance or channel 59 leads to thebottom edge of the eye opening so that water discharged from the channelacross the bottom lid of the eye simulates tears Welling up within theeyes and produces a very realistic effect. The clearance etween the eyeunit 48 and the eye socket at the forward end of the channel 59 is madesmall so as to he unnoticeable. It is desirable that the dolls havetightfitting eyes at the front because any obvious spacing of the edgesof the eye openings from the eye units makes the dolls less realistic inappearance.

It is a feature of the invention that the clearance provided for theescape of water from the eyes is small enough to prevent flowby gravityalone. Some little air pressure in the head is applied when it isdesired to make the doll weep. This is done by pressing the body 11 soas to discharge air into the head 10; and the increased air pressurewithin the head is transmitted through the vent openings 41 in the frontof the reservoir.

The reservoir 26 is attached directly to the eye sockets 24. This isdone, in the illustrated construction, by a hollow rivet 54 whichextends through the opening 37 of the eye socket and into the opening 34of the tear reservoir. 7 At its forward end, the rivet 54 has a flangewhich his into the depression 46 of the eye socket. The shank of therivet 54 fits into the opening 34 with a press fit so that when theparts are assembled, thelback of the eye socket around the opening 37 issecurely clamped between the front of the reservoir and the flange whichforms the head of the rivet.

In order to provide more friction to hold the rivet 54 secured to thetear reservoir, bosses 56 are formed on the front wall 39 of thereservoir. In the illustrated construction the bosses 56 extendforwardly from thefront wall 39, but they can be made to extendrearwardly, if desired.

An extension 69 projects downwardly from the water.

chamber of the reservoir and the lower part of this extension is behindthe mouth 20. The front wall 30 has a narrow portion which comes downover the front of the projection 69, and there is an opening 62 throughthis lower part of the front wall 30. A boss 64 is formed forward of therearward end of the opening 62 so that adhesive which may smear aroundthe inner end of the opening 62 does not reach the orifice 65. Thisadhesive is used to attach the front wall 30 to the rest of the tearunit and the assembly can be performed more quickly and with less carewhen there is no small opening in the region which must be guarded frombeing clogged.

The extension 6%) is preferably solid except for a channel 72 in itsfront surface. This channel 72 extends upwardly along the front surfaceof a partition 74 which divides the water chamber 28 into twosubchambers 76 and 77. These subehambers communicate with one anotherthrough a passage 80 provided by a cutaway corner at the top of thepartition 74.

The front wall 30 is preferably attached to the rest of the tearreservoir by adhesive to form an integral assembly; and both the frontwall 30 and the other parts of the tear reservoir are preferably moldedof stiff plastic material. The front wall 30 covers the channel 72 sothat the channel serves as a passage for water from the opening 62upwardly to the passage 80 at the top of the water chamber.

When the doll is lying on its back, water placed in the mouth 20 runsdownwardly through the hollow rivet 68, boss 64, opening 62 and channel72 to the passage 80 from which the water runs into both of thesubchambers on the opposite sides of the partition 74. Since the passage80 is at the top of the subchambers when the doll is on its back, aswell as when the doll is upright, no water can flow back through themouth except the small amount which may remain in the passage from themouth to the water chamber.

When the body of the doll is squeezed to compress the air in the doll,the increase in air pressure is transmitted through the vent openings 41and this increase in pressure forces water out of the tear reservoir andthrough the channels 50 in the bottoms of the eye sockets.

Some air escapes downwardly through the channel 72, opening 62, andrivet 68 to the open mouth of the doll. The small cross section of theopening 62 is important because it limits the escape of air and thusmaintains the super atmospheric pressure on the water in the tearreservoir. This restricted opening 62 makes it unnecessary to provide acheck valve in the water passage from the mouth to the chambers 28.

The preferred construction of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, but changes and modifications can be made and some featurescan be used in different combinations without departing from theinvention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A tear doll having a soft plastic head with a mouth, eye openings andsockets behind the eye openings of integral construction with the head,eye units in the sockets, a tear reservoir located in the head andimmediately behind the eye sockets and having a front wall with threeopenings therein, one behind each eye and the other behind the mouth, ahollow rivet having a flanged head in one of the eye sockets andextending through an opening in the back of the socket and into one ofthe openings in the front wall of the reservoir with a press fit andfastening the tear reservoir to the eye socket for support thereby, asimilar hollow rivet extending from the other eye socket into anotheropening in the front wall and also with a press fit, and serving as aconnection of the tear reservoir to the other eye socket, and a hollowrivet having a flanged head in the mouth of the doll with the flangeagainst the inside of the back of the mouth and with the rivet extendingthrough an opening in the back of the mouth and into an opening in saidfront wall of the tear reservoir with a press fit and fastening the tearreservoir to the mouth and providing an auxiliary support for thereservoir, the reservoir having areas of its front face clamped againstthe back surfaces of the material forming the eye sockets and the mouthsocket by said hollow rivets. a

2. The tear doll described in claim 1 and in which there are bosses onthe front of the reservoir, and it is the end faces of the bosses whichconstitute the areas of the reservoir which are clamped against the backsurfaces of the material forming the eye sockets and the mouth socket.

3. In a weeping doll having a mouth for receiving water and eyes fromwhich tears flow, the improvement which comprises a tear reservoirlocated within the head of the doll and at a level at least as high asthe eyes of the doll, a first conduit leading from the mouth to an inletopening into the reservoir, the inlet opening being at the front of thereservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when the doll islying on its back, and said inlet opening being at the top of thereservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when the doll isin an upright position, and tear conduits leading from locationsadjacent to the eyes to at least one opening through a wall of thereservoir near the bottom of the reservoir when the doll is in anupright position, and in which the eyes are in sockets and the tearreservoir comprises a stiff box located in the head behind the eyesockets and wider than the interpupillary spacing of the eyes, the frontof the box having a wall with outlet openings therethrough in registerwith openings in the backs of the eye sockets, means clamping the frontof the box directly against the backs of the eye sockets with thesockets and box openings in register for flow of water from the box intothe eye sockets, at least a part of the water space in the box extendingabove the level of the outlet openings, and the box having an integralextension connected with the mouth and through which the first passageextends.

4. In a weeping doll having a mouth for receiving water and eyes fromwhich tears flow, the improvement which comprises a tear reservoirlocated within the head of the doll and at a level at least as high asthe eyes of the doll, a first conduit leading from the mouth to an inletopening into the reservoir, the inlet opening being at the front of thereservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when the doll islying on its back, and said inlet opening being at the top of thereservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when the doll isin an upright position, and tear conduits leading from locationsadjacent to the eyes to at least one opening through a wall of thereservoir near the bottom of the reservoir when the doll is in anupright position, and in which the eyes are located in sockets and thetear reservoir is located immediately behind the eye sockets and has afront wall with openings therein constituting parts of the tearconduits, and there are hollow rivets connecting the tear reservoir tothe sockets and constituting parts of the tear conduits and each eye hasa depression at the back of the socket and into which the head of one ofthe hollow rivets fits to provide a clearance between the rivet and theeye unit, and there is a channel in the surface of the eye socketleading from the depression to a bottom edge of the eye opening of thesocket to provide for flow of water from the depression under the eyeunit to the bottom edge of the opening, the hollow rivet of each socketfitting into the opening in the front of the reservoir with a press fitto hold the rivet permanently assembled with the reservoir, the front ofthe reservoir being firmly clamped against the back of the eye socket bysaid rivets and the front of the reservoir having bosses thereon toincrease the length of the openings into which the rivets extend forproviding greater friction.

5. In a weeping doll having a mouth for receiving water and eyes fromwhich'tears flow, the improvement which comprises a tear reservoirlocated within the doll, a first conduit leading from the mouth to aninlet opening into the reservoir, the inlet opening being at the frontof the reservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir whenthedoll is lying on its back, and said inlet opening being at the top ofthe reservoir so as to be above the water in 5 the reservoir when thedoll is in an upright position, tear conduits leading from locationsadjacent to the eyes to at least one outlet which is near the bottom ofthe reservoir when the doll is in an upright position, the doll having asoft and substantially air tight body which can be squeezed to increasethe air pressure within the body, and the front and upper part of thereservoir being open for communication With the interior of the doll foradmitting air at increased pressure into the reservoir above the Watertherein when the doll is squeezed, and a restriction in the firstconduit of smaller cross section than the open communication of the tearreservoir with the interior of the doll for limiting escape of air fromthe reservoir through said first conduit and the mouth, and in which thetear reservoir has a front wall secured to the remainder of thereservoir by adhesive, and there is a boss on the front Wall having apassage extending lengthwise thereof, and constituting a portion of thefirst conduit, and the restriction in the 6 first conduit is in saidboss and in a partition located some distance forward from the rearwardend of the passage through the boss so that any adhesive which coversthe back of the front wall around the rearward end of the passage is ata distance from the restricted orifice.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,157,763 Konikofl et a1 May 9, 1939' 2,196,912 Gilbraith Apr. 9, 19402,689,432 Beebe Sept. 21, 1954 2,748,530 Stecker June 5, 1956 2,812,615Zanca et al Nov. 12, 1957 2,819,560 Cohn Jan. 14, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS223,397 Germany June 21, 1910 408,327 Germany Jan. 13, 1925

